Jason Cosmo

by Dan McGirt

  “And you will live in my palace, remaining by my side for eternity,” said Rae, which pretty much settled the question in my mind.

  “I choose to live, O Gracious Gods.”

  “So be it,” said Great Whoosh.

  “But, if I may, I would like to ask you some questions before I go back.” Arkayne and Great Whoosh exchanged glances.

  “You may ask,” said Arkayne.

  “Am I truly the Mighty Champion of old? You told me that I am of his line, but am I some manner of reincarnation?”

  “Reincarnation is not our policy,” said Arkayne. “We grant to each mortal one life to live, for good or ill. You are very like your ancestor in courage and spirit, but you are not a reincarnation. You are yourself.”

  “May I meet him? The original Champion?”

  “Impossible,” said Great Whoosh firmly. “Have you further questions?”

  “The Superwand,” I said. “Where is it?”

  “That we do not know,” said Arkayne, “as we explained to you before. It was hidden even from us, such is its power, its danger.”

  “How can anything be hidden from The Gods?”

  “We have not inquired deeply into the matter,” said the God of Magic. “We have made it our law that no god or man shall seek that talisman. I would speculate that the Mighty Champion, the original Jason Cosmo, hid it in a place beyond our power.”

  “Beyond your power?”

  “We are The Gods of this world, this universe, but there are a multitude of others in which we hold no sway. Perhaps the Champion took the Superwand to such a place. I do not know. Inquire no further on this matter.”

  “As you command. I have no further questions.” I bowed.

  “Then we shall leave you with your patron,” said Great Whoosh, and he turned to accompany Arkayne back through the gates of Paradise.

  Rae gathered me in for a warm, godly hug. “You are the most marvelous mortal I’ve known in years. You should have seen the look on Lucinda’s face when she found out I was your sponsor. She was positively green. Especially after you destroyed Marn and bested Erimandras.”

  “Merc did most of that.”

  “Whatever.” She caressed my check. “Your tan looks good. Try to keep it by getting plenty of sun. That way I can keep an eye on you too.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “That mortal girl you were running around with has a lovely tan too. The two of you look good together.”

  “Sapphrina! Where is she?”

  “In Caratha, which is where you are too. Or were. Or will be. That is where your body is, I mean, as opposed to your soul, which is here. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll see her soon.”

  “Yes. I hope so.”

  “Be sure to drop by my temple from time to time. Of course, the one in Caratha is really much too small. They don’t really appreciate me as much as they should there. They favor the Gods of commerce and the sea—as if there would be either without the sun. It really makes my blood boil. Of course, I have been neglecting my worshippers for a few hundred years, but you’d think they would remember me anyway. Which reminds me, I must remember to schedule another eclipse soon. I haven’t done one in ages and they are such fun. I wonder if Lune is busy today. We have to coordinate these—”

  “Goddess?”

  “Yes?”

  “Could I go back now?”

  “Oh, yes! Of course. Silly of me to ramble on so.” She kissed me lightly on the cheek. “Return to life, Jason. Return to life—now!”

  * * *

  25

  I opened my eyes and saw Mercury (with his hair still white), Raella, Rubis, and Sapphrina hovering over me. I was lying in a firm bed in a small pleasant room filled with flowers.

  “He’s awake!” said Sapphrina, who immediately filled my mouth with a wet kiss.

  “So glad you could join us,” said Merc when she was finished. “True to form, you’ve been unconscious for—”

  “Three days?” I guessed.

  “Exactly. I recovered a few hours after our battle, as wizards tend to do, and dragged you up to street level to find a healer. I went to the Raelnan embassy to send word of our whereabouts to Raella. Then I located the twins through the city directory. Since then we’ve been waiting for you to wake up. The healers said you were in a Paradise coma, conferring with The Gods.”

  “How did they know that?”

  “You were smiling. Of course, there was nothing they could do if you elected to remain in Paradise and nothing for them to do if you didn’t, so we moved you from the healing house here to the embassy. Now that you’re back we can tie up loose ends and Raella and I can get back to Rae City. I assume you’ll be staying in Caratha for a while.”

  I glanced at Sapphrina. “Yes. What loose ends?”

  “Well, for example, you may wonder how the war in Raelna turned out.”

  “Now that you mention it.”

  “Raella?”

  The queen smiled knowingly at Merc. “Orphalia surrendered and withdrew when they realized we had Halogen. The nobles also renounced him and elected his cousin Stron Astatine as their new king. Halogen is now in Raelnan custody, imprisoned in the Bronze Tower where he can do no harm. With that matter closed, we turned our full might against Brythalia and drove them back beyond their own borders. But I have more welcome news than even that. Mercury and I are free to wed at long last.”

  “That’s incredible! How does this come about?”

  “The Goddess Rae has given me a special dispensation suspending the dictates of tradition and sanctioning our marriage. There is nothing the nobles can say now, no way they can force me to abdicate.”

  “Then—congratulations to both of you.”

  “You will come to Rae City for the wedding, of course. All three of you.”

  “Of course. When is the ceremony to be held?”

  “In three months,” said the queen. “A state wedding requires a great deal of preparation.”

  “Now get out of bed,” said Merc. “You’re fully healed and we have something important to do before I leave.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll explain on the way.”

  I strode boldly into the offices of the attorney Periglio, tastefully decorated with red leather walls and a glossy ebonwood floor. Mercury was right beside me and casually rendered the lawyer’s two bodyguards unconscious as we swept past the wide-eyed receptionist into the inner office.

  Periglio was seated at his desk. He was a small, furtive man with rodent eyes and greasy, slicked-back hair. Gold and diamond rings glittered on his fingers and his tunic and doublet were well-made.

  “Who are you?” he demanded. “How did you get in here?”

  I dropped one of the Society’s bounty notices on the desk. “Are you the selfsame Periglio who is the designated agent in Caratha of those who posted this bounty?”

  “Yeah. So what? Get out of here before I summon my bodyguards and have you thrown out.”

  “You probably don’t get many walk-in clients, do you?” observed Merc.

  “No, I don’t. Strictly by appointment. Now if you will excuse me. Harak! Rothar! Are you guys asleep out there, letting these clowns barge in like this?”

  “They’ll wake up in an hour or so,” said Merc. “We’ll have completed our business with you by then.”

  “I… see,” said Periglio. “So what do you want?”

  “I’m here to claim the bounty,” I said.

  “What!”

  “I’m Jason Cosmo. I’ve brought myself to the designated agent and I want my letter of credit for ten million crowns to be placed in an account at the Bank of Caratha.”

  “You’re crazy! You’re no more Jason Cosmo than I am. Get the hell out of here!”

  I drew Overwhelm and sliced his desk in half like a watermelon, scattering his papers across the floor. “This is my enchanted sword Overwhelm.”

  “So? Proves nothing. And desks cost money, you know.”

 
Merc grabbed the lawyer by his collar and yanked him to his feet. “Let me make things a little clearer for you. We know that you handle the legal interests of the Dark Magic Society in Caratha. We know the Society posted the reward on my friend here. We also know that we just returned from killing the Overmaster of the Society and a good many of his minions. One more won’t make much difference to me. The bounty offer still stands and Jason has just fulfilled its conditions. So what is the problem?”

  Periglio squinted at me. “You know, he does seem to be Jason Cosmo. Of course, the idea was that he be brought in as a prisoner, but going solely by the offer as it is worded he has fair claim to the money. I see no problem here at all.”

  “Good.” Merc released him. The attorney opened a drawer in his sundered desk and produced the letter of credit, which he signed over to me.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Have a wonderful day.”

  With ten million crowns in the bank, I was suddenly one of the wealthiest men in Caratha outside the great merchants and noble families. Word of my presence in the city would quickly spread after my appearance at the Bank of Caratha. Claiming my own bounty would only add to the fame—or infamy—I already had due to my supposed criminal exploits. But, as Merc explained, the news of the deed would free me from constantly having to worry about the legions of bounty hunters and other fortune seekers who were still looking for me.

  Mercury and Raella returned to her kingdom to prepare for their wedding. The twins and I would follow in three months, but meanwhile they were helping me get oriented in Caratha. With their expert guidance I bought a small villa in the wealthy residential section of the city and purchased a wardrobe they deemed suitable for a conquering hero/rogue.

  They also advised me on how I should invest my fortune in order to increase it. It seemed to me that ten million crowns was enough to live on for a lifetime, but they assured me that Dinarmark’s Law of Fortune Accumulation or Dispersal, an arcane money theory I had never heard of, demanded that such large sums are either dispersed almost overnight due to bad luck and mismanagement or increase at a prodigious rate due to wise investment. The latter course seemed preferable.

  Once these chores were out of the way, Sapphrina and Rubis took me on the grand tour of the city, showing me such sights as Alcazara Palace, the Consolidated Temple of The Gods, the colorful bazaars of the trade district, the public baths, and the ivy-covered campus of the University of Caratha. Caratha was huge, dwarfing even Rae City. It teemed with people of every description engaged in ceaseless activity. Its products were exotic, varied, and abundant as befitted the City at the Center of the World. It would take years to see and experience it all.

  But years I had. My quest was completed, though Mercury warned me that factions of the Society would certainly seek revenge and reminded me that with the Next Age still ten years away it was likely The Gods would call on me to again serve their purposes. Furthermore, my own prominence would invite trouble to my door from virtually every quarter. I should be prepared for anything that might develop.

  Meanwhile, I enjoyed what was developing between me and Sapphrina. In the two weeks since my arrival in Caratha we had not continued our uncompleted conversation begun in Rae City, allowing it to hang over us like a hovering dove, both of us enjoying the suspense until, on a midnight walk through the garden of my villa, we decided we could delay no longer.

  “Let’s do this properly,” I said, whirling her about to face me and taking her in my arms.

  “Okay.”

  “Sapphrina…”

  “Jason…”

  “I love you.”

  “And I love you. And now I melt into your arms and you will kiss me—but then we must go inside because mosquitoes are biting me.”

  “Me too. I’ll have to call a pest control mage tomorrow.”

  “Yes,” she said, snuggling closer. “Tomorrow.”

  Our lips met and for long moments we were oblivious to the bloodsucking insects, but eventually they could be ignored no longer. I led the way inside and up the stairs.

  The hero business was tough, much more perilous than woodcutting or turnip farming. But, after all the foes were laid low, the dangers surpassed, and the obstacles overcome, the rewards were sweet indeed.

  About the Author

  Dan McGirt was born in Sylvester, Georgia, in 1967. He received a B.A. in political science from the University of Georgia in 1989 and is currently studying law. He enjoys reading, fencing, acting, and watching live coverage of Congress on C-SPAN. This is his first novel.